“That’s Gold, Jerry, Gold!” The Sophisticated Contradiction at the Heart of Stand-Up Comedy by George Joshua Henry A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2016 © George Joshua Henry 2016 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This dissertation examines the word “sophisticated” by re-situating it within the Greek tradition and explicating how such a move informs a study of humor and amusement. In regard to “techniques and theories,” the OED suggests the word sophisticated can be used to mean “highly developed” and “employing advanced or refined methods,” but also “not plain, honest, or straightforward,” and “containing alterations intended to deceive.” In other words, as a discourse descriptor, “sophisticated” can be taken complimentarily to mean complex, intricate, and worldly-wise, but also disparagingly to mean deceptive, misleading, and superficially-wise. The opposition between these meanings illustrates the central idea of this study—that what lies at the heart of both sophistic rhetoric and amusement is contradiction: a state of tension in which “incompatible things” are held together “because both or all are necessary and true” (Haraway). In the context of contemporary North American stand-up comedy, this dissertation links sophistic rhetoric and humor theory such that they mutually support each other, gain meaning, and become more approachable. Defined as an orientation to contradiction, sophistic rhetoric provides a way to theorize humor, while the universal phenomenon of amusement provides justification for theorizing a thing called “sophistic rhetoric.” iii Acknowledgments First and foremost, deep gratitude to my supervisor, Jay Dolmage. Of his indispensable patience and dedication—I can’t say enough. Thanks to Frankie Condon for her willingness to join the committee late and contribute straight away. Thanks to Andy McMurry for the kind words and encouragement. Thanks to our Chair. Thanks to the Department of English Language and Literature for providing an environment in which to thrive. The commitment to the study of rhetoric found there made this project possible and for that I consider myself very lucky. Thanks to Gerald Butler for teaching me about humor. Thanks to Larry McCaffery for wishing me well. Thanks to William Nericcio and Peter Herman for going out of their way to help me get to the next step. Thanks to Rosalie de Rosset for launching me in this direction many years ago. And a big thanks to all the family members who cared about us and sent us money— we are very thankful. Finally, thanks to my wife, Nicole, for everything. iv Dedication To my father, who taught me a sense of humor, and to my kids, for whom I hope to do the same. v Table of Contents Author’s Declaration ................................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ..................................................................................................................................................................... v Preface .......................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Defining Stand-Up Comedy ........................................................................................................................... 19 Recent Graduate Work on Stand-Up Comedy ............................................................................................... 21 Academic Studies on Stand-Up Comedy ....................................................................................................... 25 Humor Studies ............................................................................................................................................... 28 The Three Branches of Humor Studies .......................................................................................................... 35 Chapter One: “Of Course…But Maybe!” Incongruity Vs Contradiction ............................................................ 42 The Incongruity Theory of Humor Vs Contradiction .................................................................................... 45 Aristotle as A Traditional Source of the Incongruity Theory ........................................................................ 60 Antilogic & Dissoi Logoi ............................................................................................................................... 67 “Too Soon?”: Kairos .................................................................................................................................... 76 Implications of Aligning Jokes and Metaphors ............................................................................................. 80 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter Two: The Disparagement Theory, Self-Disparagement, and Offensive Humor ................................... 85 The Disparagement Theory of Humor ........................................................................................................... 89 Contradiction & The Problem of Ridicule .................................................................................................... 94 Self-Disparagement & Ethos ....................................................................................................................... 103 Offensive Humor ......................................................................................................................................... 109 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 125 Inter-Chapter: The Importance of Laughter ........................................................................................................ 126 (Un) Holy Laughter ..................................................................................................................................... 133 Laughing at Punchlines and Laughing at Meaning-Making ....................................................................... 138 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 142 Chapter Three: Implications: The Troubling Pragmatics of Stand-Up Comedy .............................................. 145 Troubling Pragmatics ................................................................................................................................. 150 Man is the Measure of Dissoi Logoi............................................................................................................ 157 Ludic Logoi: On What Is Not ...................................................................................................................... 163 Play, Indeterminacy, and the Ouroboros .................................................................................................... 172 Who’s On First? .......................................................................................................................................... 178 The Lenny Bruce Performance Film ........................................................................................................... 183 Embracing (Cookery) Sophistic Rhetoric: “The Art of Contradiction Making” ......................................... 191 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................ 199 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................. 206 vi Preface Contemporary stand-up…is one of the most powerful if least investigated forms of postmodernist expression. – John Limon Stand-up comedy is arguably the oldest, most universal, basic, and deeply significant form of humorous expression. It is the purest public comic communication, performing essentially the same social and cultural roles in practically every known society, past and present. – Lawrence Mintz On stage, Jerry Seinfeld ponders the results of a study that found public speaking to be more feared than death. It means, he observes, that the average person, if attending a funeral, would prefer to be in the casket rather than giving the eulogy. Robert Stebbins points out that the term “stand-up”